Justice for Baelfire
by darcyfarrow
Summary: I reject episode 3.20's reality and substitute my own: how the fight with Zelena should have gone.


"We're headed for the farmhouse. Get your butt over here; the crap's hittin' the fan!"

Belle was in the Caddy and running red lights even before Emma finished her second sentence. On the passenger seat she had Rumple's potion kit–32 potions for all sorts of purposes–a quiver full of magic wands, fully charged, and Rumple's Glock. She expected the latter to be useless in a magic fight, but it didn't hurt to be prepared for anything. And man, was she prepared, thanks to careful planning by the Royal War Council.

As she smashed her foot on the accelerator, she barked at the hands-free dialing system she'd installed last month: "Call Blue!" In a heartbeat Mother Superior was shouting back at her, "Belle? Is it going down?"

"You better believe it! The farmhouse!"

"We'll call an ambulance and then we're on our way!"

As she swung onto FM 111, Belle could hear the siren behind her: before her, she saw a dozen vehicles parked every which way on the lawn surrounding the barn. Every adult Storybrooker, it seemed, had reported for duty and they had the barn completely surrounded. Each had his own weapon of choice, from Tiny's pitchfork to Granny's crossbow, but every weapon was capable of doing so much more than it was originally intended for, thanks to enchantments cast by Regina and Emma the day before.

Jumping out of the Caddy with her arms full of weapons, Belle ran past the dwarfs and into the barn. A large black wolf suddenly appeared at her heels, its tongue lapping at its chops. "Grab the baby basket if you can," she instructed. The wolf grinned and galloped on ahead, and Belle cheered her on: "Forza, Ruby!"

An army of fairies appeared overhead, Blue shouting orders to them, and in a wedge formation, they swept into the barn. Their mission was to take out the flying monkeys. "Forza, Belle!" Blue shouted from above.

Belle paused in the entrance to distribute weapons, and then, flanked by dwarfs, she cautiously proceeded into the barn. The dwarves were to make a dash for the golden brain while the Merry Men rescued Regina's heart.

And Belle, of course, would retrieve the dagger. She shoved the Glock in her belt, as she'd seen Emma do, reached behind her back to the quiver and withdrew the first of her magic wands. Then she inched forward. As she expected, Zelena was preoccupied with Regina, though a look of amazement–and just a smidgen of terror–shadowed her green face as she glanced round at Storybrooke's civilian military moving in on her: the fairy Air Force, the Merry Men Marines, the dwarf Army and the Navy, represented by Hook and Smee.

Behind Zelena, in a cheap Armani knockoff (oh, he hated that, Belle was sure), Belle's beloved was flicking weapons right and left, yanking them from the Storybrookers' grips. Making eye contact with her, he mouthed her name. Though his face crinkled with worry, for once he didn't urge her to run. She wouldn't have obeyed this time. Zelena was going down, even if it took every fighter in town to drop her, and Belle was here to fight to the bitter end. She had every right to.

Belle smiled encouragingly but briefly at him as she angled herself to Zelena's left, away from Regina and perpendicular to Rumple. Then she aimed her wand at the dagger, clenched in Zelena's left hand. Belle squinted, shutting out all sound and all other sights. Every ounce of her physical, mental and emotional strength centered on that dagger, and a beam of blue light shot from the wand, striking the dagger's hilt square on. The dagger started to shudder.

Zelena, busy elevating Regina, didn't notice the dagger's dance in her hand.

Like Zelena, Belle poured everything she had into the magic-until the wand fizzled and went dead. Belle dropped it and yanked a second wand from the quiver. She'd lost only a few seconds from the fight.

As fresh magic hit it, the dagger wrenched itself in the witch's hand like a crazed prisoner pulling at prison bars.

Around her, dust clouds rose, balls of magic started small fires in the hay, bodies fell and creatures squealed in pain and frustration.

Yet Zelena focused her magic on Regina, expecting her slave to take care of everyone else.

Belle emptied the second wand and grabbed a third.

In the commotion, David dashed in, scooping the baby from its basket; snarling, Wolf Ruby followed, snapping at monkeys.

Regina's hands glowed with a white light. The queen raised her hands, took aim and sent a blast that knocked the green witch on her backside. And still Belle attacked the dagger. As Regina dropped to the ground, the dagger slipped from Zelena's grip. "Bingo!" Belle crowed. Both hands on the wand, she forced the dagger into the air, then swung it in a wide arc. "Catch, Rumple!"

Rumplestiltskin dove like a fielder after a fly ball. He landed on his belly in the dust, and Belle dropped her wand; he rolled over onto his back, then scrambled to his feet. "Got it!"

Cheers shook the rafters. Rumple moved toward Zelena, the dagger comfortable in his left hand as magic oozed out of the fingertips of his right. But whatever he had in mind for his former master, Regina beat him to it. She yanked the emerald from Zelena's neck. All power drained from the Wicked Witch.

As Regina stood over her, deliberating, Rumple approached, twirling the dagger between his fingers. "Stand aside, dear," he ordered Regina. "I have a debt to pay."

"No!" Regina barked, "Enough!"

Belle ran to Rumple's side, pushing herself at him, and instinctively his arms wrapped around her. "I love you, Rumple!"

"After everything this witch has done–" Rumplestiltskin began, his voice raw.

"We know everything she's done," Emma interrupted, stepping forward. "And we're gonna make sure she pays for all of it. But we do this by the law."

"You can't be serious," Rumple protested.

"A trial," David insisted, shifting the baby in his arms. "A fair trial, and if the verdict warrants, execution."

"I guarantee you, Gold, she won't escape and there will be a conviction," Emma said.

"Please, Rumple, let's do this the right way, as a community. No lynching," Belle urged.

Rumple faced off with David. "I will have justice for Baelfire! Swear it."

"As prince consort of the Enchanted realm, I swear Zelena will pay for her crimes." David glanced down at his baby. "As one father to another, Rumplestiltskin, I swear it."

"I loved Neal too," Emma lay her hand on Gold's sleeve. "As the mother of your son's son, I swear it too: justice for Baelfire."

"And for Rumplestiltskin, prisoner of war," Regina added. "As mayor of Storybrooke, I swear it."

"We got your back, Gold." Emma finished.

"Rumple, an ambulance is waiting. Let's get you and the baby to the hospital. You're malnourished and dehydrated," Belle urged. "And you both need rest." She began to walk with him, her arm still surrounding him, keeping him up. "Leave the next fight to us."

"Unless, of course, you'd like to be the prosecutor," Regina smiled her Evil Queen smile as she crushed Zelena's power emerald to dust. She wiggled her finger at Robin and the Merry Men swept in, handcuffing Zelena.

As Belle led her beloved to the ambulance, he leaned on her, exhausted, his body an empty shell. The townsfolk lowered their weapons as the couple passed by. Hands reached out, clapping them on the shoulder, touching their arms in encouragement, and with each touch, he seemed to grow stronger, stand straighter, for with each touch, he was promised, "Justice for Baelfire." As he approached the ambulance, Blue alighted and curtsied to him. "Justice for Baelfire," she vowed.

He didn't look back as the paramedics helped him into the ambulance, but Belle did. She nodded at her fellow warriors, her friends. And then she climbed into the ambulance too and the medics closed the white doors.


End file.
